Woke up to a few light sprinkles on the tent fly. Everything dried by the time we had our morning coffee. Much much easier repacking the bikes today, zippers closed with ease. Where did all the extra room come from?

Soon after starting out we stopped at an overlook off N Creek rd, view perspective is looking north west into the canyonlands valley. We were more focused on the army of clouds. More on this topic in the coming hours.

after descending the north flank of north peak, we made a quick tourist stop at newspaper rock monument

transitioning from light to darkness near South and North Sixshooter Peaks

Quick gas and weather check at the Needles Outpost. We were told by the nice lady running the cafe/store/gas station that the gates of hell were going to open at 2pm sharp. Her advice from years of living at the outpost was we would be safe running into Moab via Lockhart Basin, as long as we arrived by 2pm...mark her words. Next trip down in this area would definitely like to take an opportunity and explorer Canyonlands NP, looked pretty neat from the east boundary.

Tom and I have been looking forward to this next section since the early stages of route planning. For the next 10 miles or so, the road alternated between hard packed and soft.

Around every corner another photo op

Tom was running point and made a left instead of a right, only had to wait a few minutes before he checked the track on his GPS.

We stopped at these first big steps. I had a waypoint to a hidden little trail cone left by inmate littlewan and bigwan (RR here). Unfortunately, I didn't recall the exact hide location. We looked and looked almost tripping over it. Read in Kelly's trip report later that another inmate snag it a week or so after our visit.

Mucking hot even in the shade for a northerner

The jeep trail keeps cutting north and meandering into and out of side canyons.

First site of the mighty Colorado river

Gopro capture of one of the many little cool canyons

Is that 690r front wheel in a natural position?

Very rare dirt nap for Mr BackCountryCruizer, figure I'd capture this for the history books

Wondering if he was going to take the easy line to the left, yep he did

First sighting of a rental jeep, must be getting close to Moab

This back country outfitter camp wagon even had an on-demand hot water shower. Very impressive 5 star camping

Pulled into Moab around 1:30pm and did another weather check, a wet blob was definitely heading our way, and soon. So we decided to make this a short day and made a beeline for the strip to find a hotel. As it turned out, all the hotels on the strip were completely booked, some kind of big national jeep convention the coming weekend. Typical for the month of Sept. So we started hunting on the side streets and finally found a cheap room for the night. I think it was called the Rustic Inn. Bed, crapper and shower.

After unpacking and covering the bikes, we walked to Zax Wood Fire Pizza on the corner of 100S and Main. We sat outside on their nice patio. Soon as we sat down and started looking over the menu, the gates of hell opened up, wind and rain in the buckets for the next couple of hours. Looking at the time it was 2pm on the nose. In celebration of our good fortune to be in the comfort of a dry covered patio, Tom and I immediately ordered up drinks and toasted the storm. Excellent margarita on the rocks with salt I should add.

Funny side story, we were enjoying our meal and drink watching the event outside and these two gentleman Harley riders exited the restaurant and walk over to their wet bikes. They didn't have any riding gear to speak of except chaps, light cotton shirts and the black half helmets. They debated at length for 5 to 10 minutes about their fear of riding on the wet pavement. Now picture these big macho Harley type complete with skull tattoos, full handlebar mustache, etc and scared of riding in the rain. Just a bit out of their normal projected character. Finally, they over came their fear and headed out on the wet road very gingerly. A 180 degree different spectrum from our style of riding.

Sorry no pics. Dang, we both left our point and shoot's back at the hotel.

We stopped at these first big steps. I had a waypoint to a hidden little trail cone left by inmate littlewan and bigwan (RR here). Unfortunately, I didn't recall the exact hide location. We looked and looked almost tripping over it. Read in Kelly's trip report later that another inmate snag it a week or so after our visit.